Internal migration in China and the United States: a comparative analysis
Abstract
This thesis presents a two-level analysis of China's temporary migration. The first part examines the interprovincial migration of China from the perspective of ecological theory and compares it with the inter-state migration of the United States. Five migration measures are used for this study--in-migration rate, outmigration rate, net migration rate, gross migration rate and migration efficiency ratio. Utilizing data from the latest two censuses of China (I 982 and 1990) and the U.S. (1980 and 1990), this analysis investigates the effects of a selected set of ecological factors on three of the five migration measures--in-, out-and net rates, controlling for population size and region. In addition, it also considers the impact of the ecological variables on all the five migration measures to analyze the migration patterns of the two countries without controlling factors. The second part is a micro-level logistic analysis of temporary migration on the basis of the Beijing file of the 1% sample of the 1990 census data. It models the likelihood of being temporary migrants versus being permanent migrants in Beijing during the 1985-90 period given a set of selected personal characteristics. Results from the macro-level multivariate regression analyses suggest that the ability of the ecological approach to explaining migration activity in the two countries is remarkable, although it works less well in the U.S. than in China. Migration patterns of the two countries vary substantially. While net migration is closely related to in-rather than out-migration in China, it appears indistinct from both of them in the U.S. The micro-level analysis of China's temporary migration from 1985 to 1990 shows that the observed relationships support the hypotheses with exception of the one regarding employment in manufacturing. This inconsistency bears the implication that the state's policy on migration and employment may be an important factor in determining the employment pattern of temporary migrants in urban areas.
Description
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Includes bibliographical references.
Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.
Includes bibliographical references.
Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.
Keywords
sociology., Major sociology.